WILMINGTON, DEL.:The judge handling Freedom Communication’s
bankruptcy is allowing the company’s unsecured creditors to develop their own
reorganization plan. Freedom’s proposed plan would have given its secured
lenders control of nearly all of the reorganized company’s equity and $325
million in new notes. When Freedom filed for Chapter 11 on Sept. 1, it
submitted the plan to allow J.P. Morgan Chase, SunTrust and Union Bank of
California to take over the company. All three collectively held around $770
million of Freedom’s $1 billion debt.

The media company’s unsecured creditors would have received just $5 million on
$300 million in claims. The group filed an objection with the court in October.
Judge Brendan Shannon on Wednesday granted the group’s request to allow its
investment bankers to investigate alternative reorganization plans.